Posts by Paul Sweeney

Paul Sweeney @paulsweeneyman

Paul Sweeney is former Chief Economist of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He was a President of the Statistical and Social Enquiry Society of Ireland, former member of the Economic Committee of the ETUC, a member of the National Competitiveness Council of Ireland, the National Statistics Board, the ESB, TUAC, (advisor to OECD) and several other bodies. He has written three books on the Irish economy and two on public enterprise, including The Celtic Tiger; Ireland’s Economic Miracle Explained and Selling Out: Privatisation in Ireland, chapters in other books and many articles on economics.

Reviewing Inequality: Understanding Piketty’s Latest Insights on Wealth, Power, and Justice

Paul Sweeney 30/01/2025

Thomas Piketty, was dubbed the "rock star economist" after his best-selling book "Capital in the 21st Century" was published in 2014. It was remarkable that a 700 page economic tome on inequality became a world best-seller and was so widely discussed. Piketty’s key argument in "Capital" is that capital would grow faster than income from work, …

The Ways to Address Core Inequality - Market Inequality.

Paul Sweeney 16/04/2024

It was seen in the last blog on Market Inequality that there are a number of factors creating the problem. The first issue is that the distribution …

Addressing the Core Cause of Inequality

Paul Sweeney 21/03/2024

Ireland has the highest level of market inequality in Europe. However, this is alleviated by our tax and welfare system. Market inequality arises …

Major Issues where Mainstream Economists Failed

Paul Sweeney 20/07/2023

In the last blog, I examined six of twelve major economic issues that mainstream economists failed to see coming or adopted incorrect responses to, …

Major Issues where Mainstream Economists Failed - Part 1

Paul Sweeney 04/07/2023

In the last blog, I examined the President of Ireland's speech critical of the lack of heterodoxy (or differences) in Irish economics. I argued that …

Neo-Liberalism and Neo Classical Economics in Ireland

Paul Sweeney 12/06/2023

The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins' speech at the 21th of anniversary of TASC in April 2023, caused a lot of reaction from mainstream …

What Can Be Done About Faulty Building

Paul Sweeney 10/02/2023

Many of the deaths in the recent Turkish earthquakes could have been prevented had there been better laws and better enforcement of the existing lax …

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